What is considered "Classic Gaming"?

I have been reading topics on this board where people are discussing PS3\Xbox360\Wii consoles\games as if these were classics. Is it because we are in the current generation of consoles\games and everything before it is now considered classic? Or are we just referring to consoles\games from our childhood as classic and since some of the subscribers on these boards are young consider those consoles\games classic?

Should we use the universal definition of classic that the music and car industry use, which is 20 years and older?

That seems a bit short. That would put games like Fallout 3, Smash Bros Brawl, GTAIV, and Valkyria Chronicles in classic status. I know the games industry as a whole is young compared to most other industries, but if we call those games classic, what is the Atari and NES generations? Ancient?

I would define classics as two generations back or older. So, anything prior last gen.

Therefore, PS2 and Xbox games would already be classics, as would Wii games now that Switch is the current gen there.

I would not go with years as the defining factor, because then we would have to accept DS games as classics, and they are definitely very modern games still. On Nintendo handhelds, DS is still last gen, and not classic, whereas GBA would be classic, being prior last gen.

I would say retro or classic depends on the individual. If you're only 20 and started gaming in your preteens and early teens with the PS3 and 360 systems anything during that point or before would be retro or classic for you now. I'm 31, so PS2 and before is retro to me.

I actually posted something similar to what your talking about. I think I have the perfect answers:

-PS3/360 are just "Last Gen" gaming. They aren't classic, although early stuff might be considered it.

-I referred to PS1/N64/PS2/Xbox as "classic gaming" along with the 90's PC games. Like Dreamcast is classic as is Tiger game.com.

-I consider the SNES and prior, "retro gaming" for their "80's vibe". I mostly use that term for SNES/Genesis for early 90's 2D style games. In certain context, I will use "Vintage Gaming" for Atari/Coleco/Intelli/etc. but generally just call them all Retro, rather than call them Arcade games.

For pre-90's PC gaming, I don't really call them retro, cause they don't feel it, like Ultima or Prince of Persia, I just call them classic PC games. I see retro is more of that 16bit you'd find in a Genesis, or 8bit of NES.

For me at least, anything pre-HD for the moment. I have a hard time calling the PS2/GCN/Xbox gen classic gaming though

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I have a room filled with PS2 games, so yeah some stuff like Final Fantasy X and SotC don't feel "classic" per say cause they never got old, but I definitely see PS1 as Classic, and I often get games mixed up. Like I often forget that Insomniac and Naughty Dog did Spyro and Crash on PS1, but Jak and Ratchet on PS2, so some lines blur between being classic gaming and "older modern".

For me there is no difference. If Mega Man X came out today I would love it just as much as I did back in the day. The same goes with Contra III, Super Castlevania IV, Gradius III, F-Zero, Super Metroid, Kirby Super Star, A Link To The Past, Super Mario World, etc..

For example I never played Vs. Super Mario Bros.. All I ever played was the beloved regular version of Super Mario Bros., so Vs. Super Mario Bros. feels like a 2018 game to me, and it is already one of my favorite video games of all time. The extra difficulty just makes it that much more awesome.

No one considers Shovel Knight a classic despite that the game looks like it could had been released on the NES or the SNES. So the same goes for me with all the other games.

The only argument is probably resolution, and maybe aspect ratio, but in terms of graphical style, and control style, that is all, just a different style. Even the polygon heavy PS1 games, for me that's just a style, like the PS1 mod used in Rise Of The Tomb Raider. That's how I see it.

That seems a bit short. That would put games like Fallout 3, Smash Bros Brawl, GTAIV, and Valkyria Chronicles in classic status. I know the games industry as a whole is young compared to most other industries, but if we call those games classic, what is the Atari and NES generations? Ancient?

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Modern Classics ?

never the Less theres a number of classics from the PS2 era like SOS the final Escape and dark cloud

I'm thinking that two generations back is too recent... Something like the PS3 was still commonly available in stores in Japan last year (and in the states, the year before), and we could get a PS5 in the next year or two.

And there was less than a year between the end of PS2's retail availability and the launch of the PS4, as well as the PS1 to the PS3.

The last console that can truly be considered classic, in my opinion, is the Sega Dreamcast. While it is a sixth gen console, there's something that sets it apart from the GameCube, PS2, and Xbox.

It being the last Sega console makes it the end of an era. It's also the last console to come out in the 90's. The console is white, similar to how 90's computers were. It's more of a Y2K thing, whereas it came in Late 1999 (1998 in Japan) and it's lifespan was 1998-2001. The Gamecube, PS2, and Xbox didn't exist for the 90's, and are more of an Early-Mid 00's thing.

The PS2, Xbox, and the Gamecube (besides the purple ones) look more futuristic and 21st century like. The Dreamcast had colored transparent controllers, like the Nintendo 64. Even with the black Sega Sports Dreamcast, it still had a cheesy 90's feel to it.

The PlayStation 2 and Xbox could play DVDs. The PS2 was marketed and hyped to be a super computer game console. Xbox Live started in 2002. These two consoles are the first consoles to purposefully advertise to non-gamers.

Yes, I think the definition for pc games should be same as used for other industry. At least 20 years older games should come under the classic category, as most of us still like to play old games, we can say old games as compared to new version released for same games. But I think classic is a bit more for X-b0x 390 and PS3 like games.

I think it is more of a subjective matter, a personal opinion. You can define classic in two ways. It's either an old game, or not a very old game, but something that a lot of people have attached to over the years.

I think it's a part of both. For me true classic games are from the 1990-2004 period, because i was growing up back then and it makes more sense to me.
If we take thousands of opinions we can rule out the average years in which the games are classic to the most people.